UK foreign secretary warns President Assad he risks all-out civil war if he remains in power, despite collapse of UN resolution

William Hague has described the Syrian regime as "doomed" and "murdering" and warned that the country is moving closer to an all-out civil war following the dramatic collapse of a major diplomatic effort to call for President Bashar al-Assad to stand down.

The foreign secretary said hopes now rested on the Arab League to increase pressure for political change in the light of this weekend's setback. On Saturday, a UN security council resolution calling for the president to resign was vetoed by Russia and China, angering western diplomats.

Activists attacked Syrian embassies across the world as news of the vetoes spread.

"This is a doomed regime as well as a murdering regime. There is no way it can get its credibility back either internationally or with its own people," Hague said on Sky.

"Because the regime is so intransigent, because it is conducting ten months unmitigated violence and repression ? more than 6,000 killed with 12,000 or 14,000 in detention and subject to every kind of torture and abuse ? it is driving some opponents to violent action themselves. That is tipping Syria closer to something that begins to look like a civil war," he said.

In Syria, dozens were reported killed on Saturday in one of the bloodiest days since protests began last March. Rebel groups and opposition activists said the regime launched an assault on the city of Homs on Friday night using mortar and tanks to bombard civilian areas.

One opposition group said it had confirmed 62 deaths in Homs, while other organisations gave death tolls in excess of 200.

Hague, said that Russia and China's veto had emboldened Assad's position. "I think Russia and China do bear increased responsibility and that means in the Middle East and Arab world there will be a great deal of anger at the positions that Russia and China have taken.

"This underlines the need for a political transition and in our view for Assad to go, or in the plan of the Arab League to hand over to his deputy and form a unity government. That's a sensible way forward," he said.

He said, however, that he would continue to work alongside the Russian and Chinese governments, and planned to contact Russia's foreign minister when he returns from a visit to Syria later this week.

"We will continue to work with Russia and China on this. We want them to change their position," Hague said.

Asked about plans by Arab countries to expel Syrian diplomats, Hague said that Britain's diplomatic options wre constantly being reviewed but any announcement would first be made to parliamentt.

"We haven't taken any decisions to sever our diplomatic links at the moment but the Arab League is playing a very strong role ? This is the main way forward now, for the Arab League to pursue their plan because they don't need the UN to do that although it would have been good to have had a clear mandate from the United Nations.

"They should pursue their plan and intensify their own pressure on the Assad regime to stop the killing and allow a peaceful political transition."

Hague said the UK had reduced its embassy operations in Syria to an absolute minimum and reiterated the government's position of ruling out military intervention, stressing the differences with last year's regime change in Libya.

"In Libya we had the authority of the UN to take all necessary measures. Given what has happened this weekend, we could not pass such a resolution.

Secondly, the consequences would be far more difficult to foresee in Syria than they were in the relatively straightforward Libya because of the knock on effects across the region. Thirdly it would have to be on a dramatically bigger scale in Syria in order to be effective," he said.

The Sino-Russian veto was intended to promote a political settlement, China's state news agency Xinhua said in an article today.

It "aimed at further seeking peaceful settlement of the chronic Syrian crisis and preventing possible drastic and risky solutions to it," the piece said.

"With the veto, Russia and China believed more time and patience should be given to a political solution ? which would prevent the Syrian people from more turbulence and fatalities."

The opposition Syrian National Council condemned Moscow and Beijing for obstructing the passage of the draft resolution.

The veto drew an angry response from Washington's UN envoy Susan Rice, who wrote on Twitter that she was disgusted and said Russia and China would have blood on their hands.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, criticised the UN resolution, saying it made too few demands of anti-government armed groups, and could prejudge the outcome of a dialogue among political forces in the country.

Russian news agencies reported that Lavrov and Russia's foreign intelligence chief, Mikhail Fradkov, would meet Assad in Damascus on Tuesday.

Syria has been a key Russian ally since the Soviet era and Moscow has opposed any UN demands that could be interpreted as advocating military intervention or regime change.

Earlier on Saturday, Tunisia decided to expel Syria's ambassador in response to the "bloody massacre" in Homs and said it no longer recognised the Assad regime. As news of the violence spread, a crowd of Syrians stormed their country's embassy in Cairo and protests broke out outside missions in Britain, Germany and the US.

Heavy snowfall causes transport chaos, with trains delayed, cars abandoned on roads and flights cancelled across Britain

? Have you taken any great snaps of snow or travel chaos? Send them to us at pictures@guardian.co.uk and we'll feature the best

A thick blanket of snow, 16cm deep in places, has settled across parts of the UK, grounding planes, stranding motorists and leaving roads icy and treacherous.

Although the worst of the flurries will move eastwards, swaths of the UK have been placed on amber alert, with the Met Office warning of icy conditions across much of England, Scotland and Wales.

Church Fenton in North Yorkshire and Wattisham in Suffolk recorded 16cm of snow, while up to 15cm was forecast for parts of Cumbria, Lincolnshire, East Anglia, North Yorkshire, the Peak District and the Midlands.

Many motorway drivers were forced to spend the night in their cars as the snow brought traffic to a standstill. The Highways Agency has urged motorists to take extra care on the roads.

A third of today's flights have been axed at Heathrow because of the snow and the possibility of freezing fog. A spokesman for the airport said: "We have about 850 of our usual 1,231 flights scheduled for today. That's been agreed with the airlines, but we are asking people to check with their airlines before travelling to the airport."

A full schedule of flights is planned for Gatwick, but passengers have been warned of possible disruptions because of the weather.

Stansted, Birmingham, Luton and Manchester airports were forced to suspend operations for a period last night as snow piled up on the runways, but normal service was expected to resume on Sunday.

Six flights were cancelled in Birmingham, where some passengers were forced to spend the night in a terminal. A spokesman said the airport would catch up on Sunday, providing temperatures did not drop much lower.

In Luton, flights were "fully operational" with some delays due to snow clearing.

A couple of departures were cancelled at Stansted, but a spokesman said there was "movement" on and off the runway, adding: "Flights are subject to delays of up to about one hour".

A Gatwick spokesman said all scheduled flights had taken off and arrived safely, despite 8cm of snow. There were no cancellations.

On the roads, motorists faced what the RAC described as a "dangerous cocktail of driving conditions" and were urged to stay at home where possible. Some minor routes closed altogether.

Drivers on sections of the M25 in Hertfordshire were trapped in gridlock throughout the night. One motorist, Tom Jones, was stranded in his car for more than seven hours, telling the BBC: "We joined the back of a tailback, never realising we would be spending the night on the motorway." He said the Highways Agency had to deal with much bad driving, and said he saw several cars stuck in ditches and many blocking the hard shoulder.

Thames Valley police said the snow had caused a tailback between junctions nine and four southbound on the M40 from about 9pm until the early hours of .

Police in Kent warned people not to travel unless "absolutely essential", and urged people not to cause an obstruction if forced to abandon their vehicles.

A spokesman said the A20 and Jubilee Way were closed and advised people using the Port of Dover to check with their ferry operator before travelling.

A North Yorkshire police spokesman said there had been some 60 minor road collisions across the county since Saturday afternoon as a result of the weather.

The area's fire and rescue service said a crew returning to their base at Robin Hood's Bay had helped several motorists who became stuck in "severe" snow drifts.

The Highways Agency has issued an amber alert, advising people to take extra care while travelling because of "the increased risk of adverse driving conditions".

Kevin Andrews, RAC patrol ambassador, said the wintry weather and sub-zero temperatures had left roads "extremely treacherous". The motoring organisation said it had attended 70% more breakdowns than normal, while a spokesman for the AA said it dealt with about 1,500 callouts per hour on Saturday.

The total figure was predicted to reach 15,000 by the end of Saturday, almost double the usual number of 8,500.

Rail services have also been affected, with disruption set to continue throughout Sunday.

Southern Railway said trains were subject to delay and cancellation, with journey times extended by up to 30 minutes.

In the capital, all bus routes were operating morning after a few "curtailments" to the night bus services, Transport for London said.

Tube services were said to have started well but delays and suspensions soon set in on most lines.

The Met Office's amber alert, which urges people to be prepared, applies to central, south-west and eastern Scotland, to Wales, and to vast areas of England. A yellow alert, which warns people to "be aware", was in place for the Highlands and Northern Ireland.

The icy spell has seen daytime temperatures plummet four or five degrees lower than average for February ? traditionally the coldest month of the year.

The Department for Transport has said it was better prepared than ever for severe winter weather. Salt stocks across Britain stand at more than 2.4m tonnes ? a million more than last year.

Five police officers and two civilians killed after car bomb blast at police headquarters, with at least 19 people wounded

A car bomb has exploded at the police headquarters in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, killing at least seven people.

The blast went off in a car park, according to Faisal Ahmad, a spokesman for the provincial government. Five police officers and two civilians were killed, and least 19 people were wounded, he said.

The explosion was large enough to shatter the windows of nearby buildings. It appeared the bomb was in a parked vehicle and remotely detonated, said Zalmai Ayubi, another government spokesman. No one has yet claimed responsibility.

Although the international military coalition in Afghanistan has poured resources into Kandahar and surrounding areas as part of a push to take back insurgent strongholds, the area has remained dangerous and there have been repeated attacks against government installations.

The UN reported on Saturday that 2011 was the deadliest on record for civilians in the Afghan war, with 3,021 killed as insurgents ratcheted up violence with suicide attacks and roadside bombs. Civilian deaths from military or other pro-government forces decreased slightly.

A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, said on Sunday the report was "biased" and accused the UN of falsifying the figures.

The commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, John Allen, said the report reflected the effort the international coalition has put into decreasing civilian casualties. He added that international forces would "continue to do all we can to reduce casualties that affect the Afghan civilian population".

Meanwhile, police in northern Afghanistan said an American soldier shot and killed an Afghan guard at a US base, apparently because the American thought the guard was about to attack him.

There have been a growing number of attacks by Afghan soldiers against international forces in Afghanistan in recent years, some the result of arguments and others by insurgent infiltrators. Last month, an Afghan soldier shot and killed four unarmed French troops at a base in eastern Afghanistan.

Friday's shooting in Sari Pul province, northern Afghanistan, resulted from an unfortunate misunderstanding, said Sayed Jahangir, the deputy police chief for the province.

Afghans guard the outside perimeter of the base and Americans guard inside. Jahangir said that the Afghan guard ? a man named Abdul Rahim ? wanted to go into the base and started arguing with the American at the door. Rahim did not raise his weapon, but the American thought he was about to do so and fired, Jahangir said.

"Our initial reports show that the American thought he was acting in self-defence," Jahangir said. Rahim was a private guard, not an Afghan soldier or policeman, Jahangir said.

US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings said US forces were "aware of an incident in northern Afghanistan" and were investigating, but did not give further details.

Labour leader urges cross-party campaign to block Andrew Lansley's health reform bill

Labour leader Ed Miliband is calling on the public to join a three-month campaign to kill off the government's controversial NHS reforms as pressure mounts on David Cameron to withdraw the coalition's flagship health and social care bill from parliament.

Ahead of a crucial week for the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, during which the bill will return to the Lords where it can expect a further mauling, Miliband describes the plans as a dangerous "leap in the dark" that will impose a "free market free-for-all" on the NHS.

With much of the medical profession now opposed to the plans and Downing Street increasingly concerned, Miliband says an effective cross-party campaign in parliament, backed by patients, could deliver Lansley's plans the last rites.

"It is not too late to stop this bill," Miliband says in an article for the Observer. "We have three months to prevent great harm being done to the NHS. Now is the time for people of all parties and of none, the professions, the patients and now peers in the House of Lords to work together to try to stop this bill." The worst option, he argues, would be to press on with a bill just so that the government can save face.

Ominously for the government, Labour, Liberal Democrat and crossbench peers are discussing joint strategies to torpedo further elements of the bill when it begins its report stage in the Lords on Wednesday.

The latest action to amend the bill ? which would devolve power over commissioning to GPs and open the service up to more competition ? comes despite the government offering a string of concessions when it put down 136 amendments in addition to the 1,800 already tabled. One peer involved in cross-party discussions said the aim was to continue amending the bill until ministers had to concede there was no further point in pressing ahead.

Labour and some Lib Dem peers, including Shirley Williams, are now training their sights on the part of the bill that would open the NHS to a greater role for the private sector. "This is the core of the bill," said one peer. "This is what really matters." Labour and the Lib Dems, with some crossbench support, are tabling further changes which they say will limit the extent to which the private sector can compete to provide services across the NHS.

Peers predict the government could suffer a series of defeats between now and March. Privately, many Tory MPs question whether it is wise to press ahead with a bill not backed by most of the medical profession.

Last week, physiotherapist leaders joined the Royal College of GPs in calling for the health bill in England to be scrapped, becoming the latest medical group to set its face against the plans.

Changes agreed by ministers last week, intended to win peers round, include making it clear the health secretary would retain ultimate control over the NHS, and strengthening the requirement of the regulator, Monitor, to ensure different providers competing for patients also work together.

But there are signs that peers are going for more concessions. The Observer understands that some prominent Tory peers may soon break cover to voice concerns about key elements of the bill relating to its provisions on competition.

Miliband is keen to stress his party is not against all reform. "The NHS needs reform, but not David Cameron's. A sign of a reform being on the right track is whether it slowly builds support, as the Labour government did with the tough action we took to get waiting times down, including using the private sector where appropriate."

Defending the reforms, Lansley said: "The NHS faces unprecedented challenges from our ageing population and new, more expensive treatments.

"Our plans to improve the NHS are essential if it is to be sustainable for the future. Doctors and nurses support the core principles ? giving more power to clinicians to design services for patients, getting patients the information they need to make proper choices and promoting democratic accountability, with councils leading health improvement. Any reform of something as important as the NHS will cause controversy.

"Trade unions like the BMA opposed the very creation of the NHS. Labour used to support reform but now they are jumping on the bandwagon of opposition in order to please their trade union masters. My father worked for the NHS on the first day it came into existence, I want the NHS to still be here to support my children in the future. I care passionately about maintaining an NHS that is free for all which is why I am pursuing a programme of reform to make it sustainable for future generations," he said.

? 'I will gladly go to jail for a month,' midfielder says on Twitter
? Attorney General's office has examined tweets from Barton

Joey Barton has invited the authorities to "make him a martyr" after the Attorney General's office said it was looking into his tweets over the impending John Terry trial.

"I will gladly go to jail for a month, in the name of free speech. I have no problem with what I said. Make me a martyr ?" the Queens Park Rangers captain tweeted on Sunday.

The Attorney General's office said it had been made aware of a series of robust observations made by Barton on the stripping of the England captaincy from the Chelsea defender following an allegation of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand during a match at QPR last year. Terry, who denies the charge, will stand trial in July, just a matter of days after Euro 2012 finishes.

Barton, who was playing in the match at Loftus Road in October, has defended his comments on the grounds of free speech. However a spokesman for the Attorney General's office said: "I can confirm the Tweets have been brought to our attention and have been viewed."

Dominic Grieve QC is the current Attorney General. He is the government's senior law officer and part of his remit is to make sure people facing criminal allegations receive a fair trial.

Up to 120,000 Russian anti-government protesters demand political reform as Putin supporters stage counter-rally

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have braved temperatures of -18C in Moscow to march through the city shouting "Russia without Putin" and calling for a rerun of disputed elections.

In the latest of a series of mass gatherings since allegations of widespread government vote-rigging at the parliamentary poll on 4 December, the protesters walked an agreed route from Oktyabrskaya metro station to Bolotnaya Square, near the Kremlin.

Much of the protesters' anger is focused on the prime minister and defacto leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin, who earlier likened their white ribbons ? worn as a symbol of solidarity ? to condoms.

"Under Putin, so many thieves have come to power," said Ivan Frolov, 28, an engineer. "The authorities are totally closed, they don't talk to the people. We want to choose leaders who listen to us. And we don't want to worship a single person."

Analysts say nascent discontent ? especially among the urban middle class ? grew in September when President Dmitry Medvdev, who is perceived as being a more liberal figure, announced he would not run for a second term, leaving Putin free this spring to return to the presidency, which he held from 2000 to 2008.

Protest organisers claimed up to 120,000 people attended the march while police put the figure at 35,000. There was an irreverent atmosphere: some came dressed as clowns, or knights on cardboard horses, while others banged drums. Groups of communists waved Soviet flags, and several hundred nationalists marched in in a phalanx crying in unison: "Russia for ethnic Russians!" However, the majority of demonstrators showed no party or group allegiance, and many had fashioned their own placards.

Natasha Orekhova, 26, a public relations specialist with a real estate firm, stood next to a friend who carried a fork with a pretend snake spiked on its tines, a reference to Putin calling the protesters Bandar-logs, the monkeys hypnotised by a python in Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.

"Suddenly there is a feeling of unity in our discontent," said Orekhova. "The people coming to protests are beautiful, clever, educated. It's very pleasant."

Many spoke of the ruling elite treating ordinary people with contempt. Galina, a linguist in her 50s who declined to give her surname, said: "We want our dignity back. The authorities despise us. Recently, I was travelling to visit my sick mother in hospital and they closed the road for an hour because Putin's cortege was taking him somewhere to drink tea with someone. I sat in my car crying tears of rage and frustration."

Several opposition leaders spoke from a stage. Sergei Udaltsov, a radical leftwing activist, drew cheers when he tore up a portrait of Putin.

The protesters are demanding a rerun of the parliamentary elections, the resignation of the head of the central election commission, reform of the political system and the release of political prisoners.

So far, the only sop offered by the Kremlin is a simplified process for registering political parties and the return of direct elections of regional governors, but it remains unclear when these changes will come into effect.

Attention now turns to the presidential election on 4 March. Putin is the clear frontrunner in that race and a rally of his supporters in a park on the edge of Moscow on Saturday also drew large crowds. However, he admitted this week that he may not get the 50% required to win in the first round of the vote, which would erode his authority.

Police deployed about 9,000 officers for the protests. No serious incidents were reported.

Newt Gingrich vows to fight on despite loss and accuses Romney camp of spreading rumours that he plans to quit

The Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney coasted to victory in the latest of the party's presidential nomination contests, the Nevada caucuses, as his main rival, Newt Gingrich, vowed he would not be dropping out.

Romney's win widens his delegate lead over Gingrich, the former senator Rick Santorum and the Texas congressman Ron Paul. The former Masscusetts governor has now won three of the five opening contests.

But Gingrich sought to ruin Romney's post-election celebrations, calling a press conference to deny he planned to quit and blaming the rumours on the Romney camp. "I am not going to withdraw," he said.

Gingrich instead set out a strategy for a protracted campaign. He boldly claimed he would have near-parity with Romney by the Texas primary on 3 April and a chance to take the lead afterwards. He pledged to fight on to the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida, in August.

Underlining the extent of division and bitterness created by the race, Gingrich again described Romney as "blatantly dishonest", a line that Democrats will happily replay if Romney becomes the nominee to face Barack Obama for the White House in November.

Romney, in his victory speech in Las Vegas, was in a bullish mood, recalling that he had won Nevada in his failed bid for the Republican nomination in 2008. "This is not the first time you have given me your vote of confidence and this time I am going to take it all the way to the White House," he said.

Gingrich, at a Las Vegas press conference, was defiant, predicting conservatives in the contests lying ahead would not vote for a pro-abortion, pro-gun control Massachusetts moderate.

"Our commitment is to seek to find a series of victories which by the end of the Texas primary will leave us about at parity with governor Romney and from that point forward to see if we can't actually win the nomination. We will continue to campaign all the way to Tampa," he said.

Gignrich's defiant tone came  after a meeting in Las Vegas with about 60 financial backers, including the billionaire casino and hotel owner Sheldon Adelson.

Gingrich described Nevada as a "very heavily Mormon state" in explaining Romney's big win. A survey of caucus-goers showed about 25% were Mormons. In the 2008 nomination battle 95% of Mormons who took part in the caucuses voted for Romney.

Romney was helped too by having had full-time staff and volunteers working in the state for months, important in caucuses. Gingrich and Santorum only began organising over the last few weeks.

The candidates are fighting for the Republican nomination to take on Barack Obama for the White House in November. The winner needs to secure 1,144 delegates to the Republican convention in August.

Nevada has 28 delegates, distributed among the candidates based on share of the vote. Although Romney takes the biggest share, Gingrich and Paul will receive a portion.

Ominously for Obama, for whom Nevada is a swing state in November, four out of 10 of those surveyed going into the caucuses said their priority was to force him from office. They also cited the economy as their number one issue.

Nevada is one of the states worst hit by recession, with high unemployment and collapse in the housing market.

Although Romney has established himself as favourite, there is still a route available to Gingrich if he can take big states such as Ohio, Georgia and Texas in March and April and sweep up the remaining southern states.

Paul and Santorum did not stay in Nevada to watch the results come in.  Paul spent the day campaigning in Minnesota while Santorum did the same in Colorado. Both states vote on Tuesday. The Maine caucuses have begun and are due to be completed next Saturday.

Romney spent the day campaigning in Colorado before returning to Nevada for his election night speech. He is planning to take Sunday off, a sign of confidence about the upcoming contests, and also recognition of the futility of trying to compete with the Super Bowl.

Although Santorum came in fourth he indicated he is not planning to quit soon, claiming he is hopeful of a decent result in Colorado and Minnesota. Before Nevada, Romney had 87 delegates; followed by Gingrich with 26; Santorum with 14; and Paul with four.

Demand for £400m subsidies to be slashed threatens claim to be the 'greenest government ever'

The challenge facing the new Liberal Democrat energy secretary, Ed Davey, has been laid bare by the revelation that 101 Tory MPs are demanding drastic cuts to the £400m-a-year government subsidies for wind farms.

The demands from Conservative MPs, made in a letter to David Cameron, came as a former Liberal Democrat leader, Menzies Campbell, warned that there would be serious trouble from his party's activists if there was any rowing back from the coalition's commitment to run the "greenest government ever".

Policy on wind farms threatens to become a major fault line between the Tories, many of whom say they are expensive and inefficient, and the Lib Dems, who see the building of 4,500 more turbines as an essential part of the drive to cut carbon emissions.

In the letter, the Tory MPs tell the prime minister they are becoming "more and more concerned" about the commitment to "support for onshore wind energy production".

The letter is evidence of growing pressure from Conservatives to resist Liberal Democrat pressure to promote green policies which many Tories believe have no proved economic or environmental benefit. The warning came as Campbell said the Lib Dem grassroots would tolerate no rowing back from the green agenda that is central to their purpose in government following the resignation of Chris Huhne.

Huhne, one of the Lib Dems' toughest operators, resigned as energy secretary to mount a "robust defence" of claims that he persuaded his ex-wife, Vicky Pryce, to take his penalty points for a speeding offence in 2003. The MP for Eastleigh, Hampshire, and his ex-wife, who faces a related charge, will appear before Westminster magistrates on 16 February. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Campbell told the Observer that the Lib Dems' credibility rested on the new energy secretary taking as tough a line on green issues as Huhne and not giving in to the demands of the Tory right.

"Liberal Democrat voters, and in particular Lib Dem activists, will not be content if there is any rowing back on the green agenda," he said. "Commitment to the environment has an iconic place in the Lib Dem approach and if we were seen to water that down, publicly and privately, things could get very tough."

Environmentalists expressed dismay at the loss of Huhne from the heart of government. Greenpeace said he had been "a vocal advocate for the green agenda in a government whose green credentials are looking more than a little tarnished".

Huhne was furious when the chancellor, George Osborne, suggested in his autumn statement last November that the government could not put green policies before the need to create jobs.

"We are not going to save the planet by shutting down our steel mills, aluminium smelters and paper manufacturers," the chancellor said. "All we will be doing is exporting valuable jobs out of Britain."

Davey, 46, the former consumer affairs minister, , who has had a relatively low-profile career in the party until now, will join Nick Clegg at an event which officials insist will demonstrate the party's determination to keep green policies at the top of the government's agenda.

Clegg is due to give a major speech on the environment within weeks, before Osborne's budget next month. Lib Dem sources said Davey, Clegg and others would be working on ideas on how to raise money to pay for more tax cuts for low earners through pollution taxes, most probably on aviation.

On his promotion to the Cabinet, Davey said he was "particularly conscious of the impact on consumers' households across the country of high energy bills". He made clear he would continue with Huhne's plans to increase the number of wind farms and "a green economy where there's lots of green jobs to help growth in our economy".

He added: "I am determined to work to follow on Chris's priorities, the Liberal Democrats' priorities, the coalition government's priorities and make them my priorities."

Riot police fire teargas at stone-throwing protesters demanding the army hand over power outside the interior ministry in Cairo

Protesters demanding a swift presidential election and an early handover of power by the army threw stones at police guarding the Egyptian interior ministry on Sunday and were forced back with volleys of tear gas.

It was the fourth day of clashes outside the ministry, in which seven people have died. Protesters accuse the ministry of failing to prevent the deaths last week of 74 people after a football match in the Mediterranean city of Port Said. Five more people have died in Suez.

Some protesters believe that remnants of the Mubarak regime were behind the violence, which was sparked by a pitch invasion after a football match between Al Ahly and Al Masri on Wednesday. They see it as part of a plot to create chaos and try to reassert their influence.

Political figures and a civilian advisory body to the military have suggested bringing the date for the presidential vote forward to April or May, from the June date foreseen in the transition timetable of the army, which took power after former president Hosni Mubarak quit.

Police and protesters, some waving Al Ahly flags, threw stones at each other and police fired volleys of teargas to push the lines of mostly young protesters back from the ministry building.

The authorities put up new concrete barriers to block streets leading to the ministry. Some earlier barricades had been torn down.

"The demand is that the army step down politically and announce the start of nominations for the presidential election immediately," said Waleed Saleh, 30, an activist with a facemask at the ready, speaking near the ministry. The military council, which took charge when Mubarak was toppled by a popular uprising on 11 February last year, has promised to hand over power by the end of June after an election. Calls for a quicker handover have been mounting, and the Muslim Brotherhood - which has the biggest bloc in parliament - added its voice on Saturday to those calling for a faster transition.

An army-appointed civilian council set up to advise the military is proposingthat nominations for the presidency be accepted from 23 February, nearly two months earlier than the 15 April date previously announced.

"If the army adopts that proposal, it will reduce the level of tension," said Saleh, though he also voiced a view popular among activists that the army might still try to influence policy from behind the scenes even with a civilian president in place.

Saleh is among hardened activists who have kept a permanent presence in Tahrir Square since 25 January, the anniversary of the eruption of protests against Mubarak.

Other protesters also called for the army to quit now and demanded retribution after the football deaths and for those killed in protests. There has been intense speculation about the cause of Egypt's worst ever football violence.

"Those people over there are the reason for the deaths in Port Said," said 25-year-old Mahmoud Gaber, pointing to the police lines. Moments later, a police riot van advanced and fired tear gas on youths in the street, briefly pushing them back.

Many are angry that there has not been a deep clear-out in the police force, and that officers use the same heavy-handed tactics against protests as in Mubarak's era. The interior minister has blamed the incident on provocations by rival fans.

Many ordinary Egyptians are increasingly worried by the continued turmoil, and some see the army as the only institution able to guard the nation against a descent into complete chaos.

Newly elected independent parliamentarian Yasser Qadri, a member of the assembly's national security committee, said his committee was proposing drawing lines near state buildings.

"Those who cross the red line would be dealt with according to the law that gives security the right to protect state buildings from attacks," he said.

But that could prove a provocation to protesters who have ignored big concrete barriers.

Among the hundreds injured in the four days of clashes was Ahmed Maher, a leader of the 6 April movement which helped galvanise the protests against Mubarak. He was in hospital on Sunday with a head injury but was stable, the group said.

Unemployment figures give new impetus to calls for an elected assembly for the north of England

Jobs in the north of England are being lost at four times the rate in the rest of the country, deepening the economic divide and prompting new calls for devolution of powers to an elected assembly for the north. About 98,000 jobs were lost in the north-east, north-west, Yorkshire and Humberside in 2011, according to an analysis by the centre-left thinktank IPPR North. This was an 18% increase on the previous year, dwarfing the 4.5% rise in the rest of England. In the most extreme case, in the north-east, 12% of the working-age population are unemployed compared with 6.5% in the south-west, 6.4% in the south-east and 9.9% in London.

The figures will bolster the growing movement calling for a "voice for the north" through an elected assembly. In the Observer, a letter from six Labour MPs from across the north, supported by parliamentary colleagues from other regions, says that the debate over Scotland's potential move to further devolution or independence should not "ignore the growing political marginalisation of the north of England, with a cabinet dominated by southern politicians who seem to know little, and care even less, of the economic and social problems of the north".

It demands that the north is given a "stronger say in its own destiny" and calls for a debate on the benefits of directly elected regional government. The MPs, who are patrons of a new thinktank, the Hannah Mitchell Foundation, established to campaign for an elected assembly, said: "We need to move on from the pessimism that descended on politicians after the defeat of the referendum for north-east devolution in 2004, and recognise that the UK has changed."

Barry Sheerman, the MP for Huddersfield and a signatory of the letter, said the movement aspired to create an assembly, but in the short term he believed that each region should have a commission made up of business and academic leaders to protect its particular interests.

"I am very passionate about this. The north has a much larger population than Scotland, and look at London, which has an assembly and a powerful mayor to protect its interests. With the scrapping of the regional development agencies, we don't have a body to deal with strategic problems and issues for the north.

"As I keep telling the prime minister and chancellor, the northern regions have been in recession for years."

Linda Riordan, MP for Halifax, said: "The disparities between the north and south are widening and demand action and it is extraordinary that the government is getting rid of the regional development agencies that provided us with some support."

The government is funding 164 projects through a regional growth fund, "creating and safeguarding" more than 330,000 jobs, supported by more than £6bn of private investment. In November, the chancellor announced an additional £1bn for the fund, bringing the total to £2.4bn.